Kurama's Angel
by Valentine Meikin
Summary: Based on 'Crossplay' by Kuniklino. Kushina's death was only the beginning of her real life. Now, replacing her apparently dead son, she works to stop the plans of the Ten Tailed Beast and it's many agents, to bring true peace to her world...
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note - The base story idea is not mine. It is based closely on the concept of the story, Crossplay, written by Kuniklino. I have kept some of the more interesting aspects, while removing both the hurried nature of the narrative, and the serious abuse of cause and effect.**

**I wish to remind Kuniklino that the narrative of Naruto at the point you chose is on a knife edge. You effectively swept the feet out from under the entire narrative of Shippuden in one fell swoop. Sarutobi's still in power, Sasuke's still loyal, and the big final gambit... is cancelled, pending a new plan. Great idea you had, unfortunately, you made too many changes in too short a time.**

**When I say 'Many Years' or similar, it is compared to the date of the first chapter of Naruto, and refers to the fact it's set during the time of Kushina being the Kyuubi's jinchuriki.**

**The Naruto cast is owned by Viz Media, and is created by Masashi Kishimoto. I do not own any part of the Naruto franchise, and wouldn't want to own the Uchiha family anyway.**

KURAMA'S ANGEL

Chapter One - Till Death Do Us Part

**Many Years Ago**

A red vixen dashed through the forest, chased by a larger white fox, the red tips of it's multiple tails swishing in mild irritation and annoyance. Ducking into a hole, the vixen disappeared out of view, only for it to appear at the steps of a shrine, turning into a young woman in the kind of kunoichi outfit as seen in some of the 'moving pictures' that places like the Land Of Iron made.

"Bravo..." The larger fox growled, turning into a tall man in a traditional kimono, scooping her up into a hug, "You're really getting good at doing that..."

"I only wish we could do things like this in the physical world..." The young woman stated, "But..."

"You can't exactly go to your clan and declare 'Hey, I met this super-sexy hanyou one day'..." The man joked, getting a light punch in the arm.

"I'm meant to be sealing you away so you won't destroy everything..." She pouted, "Can you stop being so handsome?"

He chuckled. "Not happening." He stated, capturing her in a deep kiss.

* * *

The shrine was the physical embodiment of the seal that kept the demon known as the Kyuubi no Youko, or Nine-Tailed Beast, sealed away from the mortal world. What they hadn't predicted was that it was only half of the Kyuubi no Youko, and there was also a hanyou, who went by the name Kitsugami Kurama, sealed inside.

When Kushina first met Kurama, she was fixated by the handsome white-haired man, and every night, they talked until the day came. Within a few years, she had discovered the true nature of Kurama, and, rather than sealing him into the same shrine, she found herself falling for him as much as he fell for her.

Within a few short months, Kushina found herself emulating a kitsune, and the courtship began in earnest, neither hanyou nor vixen minding one bit.

* * *

Years later, she was sat in a glade that temporarily linked her mindscape with the spirit realm, Inari stood with her kitsune retinue, a wedding kimono on, the hanyou sat beside her in his own wedding attire. "Do you, Uzumaki Kushina, wish to ascend to become a blessed kitsune, one of my worldly agents in the mortal world, casting aside your mortality?" Inari asked.

"I do." Kushina replied, even as, in the mortal world, she sat being wed to Minato Namikaze.

"Do you, Uzumaki Kushina, wish to be one of the eternal brides of Kitsugami Kurama, and devote yourself to his protection and service until you both join my retinue for eternity?" Inari asked.

"I do." Kushina replied firmly, at the same moment as she said the same in the mortal realm to the vows to marry Minato Namikaze.

"For now, you shall remain Uzumaki Kushina..." Inari stated, "When this life ends, however, remember these vows, because the mortal body is weak, and prone to illness, injury and death."

Both hanyou and kitsune nodded.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may ravish the bride." Inari finished, then vanished. The wedding kimonos lasted five minutes. The ravishing seemingly lasted weeks. Neither Kurama nor Minato knew whose fault the fact she ended up pregnant was. All that was known was that both Kurama and Kushina knew her days were numbered...

* * *

Kurama looked at the slowly dying body of his wife, even if it felt like it had been centuries. It had been most of a year since she'd become pregnant, and right now, she could feel half of her husband being torn away, and knew that she didn't have long at all.

"You do not have to die, my lovely kitsune..." Kurama purred. Kushina wasn't even trying to hide the russet furred tail that was hanging limply from her backside, all illusions about what she was gone.

"My body is dying..." She sighed, "We both knew that this was a risk..."

"Remember our vows." Kurama stated, for Kushina to look towards an intact kitsune statue in understanding.

She stood up, ignoring the protests her dwindling mortal life force caused in her body, managing to get to the statue, her shape shifting and seeming to flow into it, then everything began to disintegrate.

As her mortal body took it's last breath, the statue's eyes glowed blue for a few seconds, then both statue and hanyou were in some kind of sewer, the seal unable to anchor properly. Kurama smirked. Kushina wouldn't be dead for very long at all...

By the time that Sarutobi and his retinue managed to get to where Minato and Kushina had been, they found only their corpses, with no sign of Kushina's child or the Kyuubi itself.

"There's only trace elements of it's chakra, Hokage." The head of the force reported, "As far as I can tell, the Kyuubi was destroyed... Unfortunately, at the loss of the Hokage's child."

There was a brief funeral for Naruto Namikaze, the fact his name was marked as such being one of a series of mistakes that would, in the long term, cost Konohagakure dearly.

* * *

**Writer's Note -**

We only know what Kishimoto told us about the nature of the Kyuubi. It is very plausible the 'half' of the Kyuubi that was sealed into Naruto was the massive chaotic beast of Naruto canon, while the other 'half' was the hanyou of this story.

Yes, Kushina isn't acting completely to canon, but, like Haku Yuki, Tamaki and several other characters whose plots could write an entire book, we don't know nearly enough to say that she isn't like this in private. Also, on the Kyuubi acting out-of-character, similar to Kuniklino, the Kyuubi we see for almost the entire story is not the constantly angry engine of destruction, he's the calm hanyou who adores life and playing with vixens.

Yes, this chapter is pretty short, but it sets things up for the first major change in the Naruto-verse.


	2. Chapter 2

**This part of the story takes place during the 'dead period' prior to Chapter One of the Naruto storyline. Before anyone asks, Yes, Naruto will not be appearing in this story. I am not saying what happened to his body, or where Kushina got her body from, You can make your own assumptions.**

**What I am saying is that many interactions and events will be heavily changed by the fact Kushina is overtly a kitsune, female and has begun to eliminate the concept of the jinchuriki. The only antagonist in this, as well as another story I will be posting within the next day or so, will be the Juubi, period. How that works will be made clear.**

Chapter Two: Growing Up Yet Again

The days after her death were confusing and slightly frightening for Kushina, as she found herself watching events in the world almost like someone watching a movie, as Kurama observed the rebuilding of Konohagakure after his darker half pretty much demolished many parts of the village. Under disguise, he purchased various items, but however she was observing it, she wasn't able to understand any of the writing on the packages.

Something that was annoying her even more was that her intelligence appeared to have taken a nose dive. Most of her techniques had been forgotten, and she couldn't even remember how the handseals went. '_Dying generally wrecks your memory and similar, plus... Well, I'll let you know in a few years._' Kurama's voice stated in her head, and she relaxed as much as she could, her tail swishing in irritation.

When full awareness came to her, she found herself as a girl of only a few years old. "I'm a kid!" Kushina moaned, "No wonder I can't even do the basics!"

"Because your new life hasn't even attended the academy..." Kurama offered, "Maybe I should have you halt your aging now..."

He then lifted her up effortlessly, putting her on his back in a pouch that clearly was designed for the purpose, Kushina realizing that the walled off area she could see, by getting up on his shoulders and looking over his head, was Konohagakure. She smirked as Kurama muttered about how she needed to stop doing that.

"What do you mean, Ku-sama?" Kushina asked, for Kurama to sigh.

"For the past few months, ever since I started using the pouch, you get out of it and use my head as a lookout," Kurama moaned. Kushina giggled, getting down and using the pouch again, guessing that it was one of her new habits... Not that she didn't like the view.

"Ku-hime, Shush..." He then hissed, his ears twitching, "It's far too late for anyone to be out this far..."

She scrunched up her face. It wasn't very dark at all...

She then noticed the moon high in the sky, and realized that was she thought was shortly before sunset was actually the middle of the night. She watched as Kurama headed through the forests that surrounded Konoha, coming across a group of ninja with familiar looking markes on their forehead protectors.

"Ambassadorial Guard Shiroko, Odd for you and your team to be out at this late an hour..." Kurama purred as he soundlessly dropped in front of them, "I don't even see the ambassador himself with you, unless he's in that bundle. Admittedly, Whoever it is, they smell like a girl, and rather scared too..."

"What the hell are you?" Shiroko snapped, terrified. Kurama let his tails unfurl, lighting each one with a blue flame. He gave them a minute to count the balls of foxfire, then grinned.

"Now, are we going to do this the easy way, or the fun way?"

* * *

Hiashi blinked as the massive white nine-tailed fox arrived at the gates of Konoha with his daughter and a strange red-haired girl riding on it, the guards for the Kumo delegation seeming to be escorting it.

"We wish to apologize profusely for abducting your daughter... I offer my head in compensation," The head of the guards stated, the ambassador realizing that, if it wasn't for that token gesture, he'd be the one losing his head.

"I accept your offer. You really should watch who you have as guards... Hopefully, this will be the only case of undesirables corrupting what should be a spirit of fellowship." Hiashi declared, as the man was dragged off.

The ambassador nodded as the fox shrank down to the form of a man that seemed to tower over both men. "Ku-sama, Stop intimidating the mortals..." The redhead declared, wagging her finger at him in an almost comical fashion. The man then lost a good foot in height, and his whole presence seemed to diminish.

"Kitsugami Kurama, requesting that the contract between the kitsune and Konohagakure is restablished..." He rumbled, looking sheepish, Hiashi chuckling slightly.

* * *

"So, The Kyuubi no Yoko was a bastard offshoot of your race?" Sarutobi asked Kurama, who nodded.

"The contract was a verbal one, rather than a literal one, that your... Jinchuriki fulfiled by simply being the container of a fox of some kind." Kurama offered, "When the last of them died, the contract was broken."

Sarutobi nodded. It was very plausible that the Kyuubi had not accidentally taken on a fox's form, and instead it was that this contract of unclear terms forced it to. "I will negotiate a new contract, as representative of the kitsune, in the morning, if you wish, that will be done as with any other treaty. All I ask personally is to be seen as Konohagakure's guardian."

As two men shook on the first part of what would be a groundbreaking agreement, far away, a statue glowed with malevolence, angry at how part of it's power was denied it. All was created so it could destroy it at the end of days...

Annoyingly, however, those pesky mortals kept moving the date further back. The end of days was meant to be over a millenia ago!


	3. Chapter 3

**I wish to apologize profusely for other ideas taking precedence over this one. I also wish to remind some of my readers that the attack by Obito occurred shortly before the story even began, and I do not plan to go back over one of the low points of the franchise. I also wish to mention that Naruto's Heritage will be going on hiatus while I figure out how to get them from Konoha to the spirit realm.**

**I also had a serious case of writer's block, and couldn't get any narrative to work. Yes, I will go back to Kasumi Ninja, No, it won't be this month.**

**Ten Years Later**

A shriek of fear cut through the Kitsugami compound, Kurama walking out to see a tangle of limbs. "Kushina, Hinata, stop playing Fox And Rabbit!"

The two girls untangled themselves from each other, Hinata blushing lightly. She didn't know why she enjoyed it when Kushina caught her, and why she'd fallen so easily into the role of 'rabbit' to the three-tailed fox that was her closest friend.

"Tell me, My lord, that you wouldn't want to sample the rabbit too..." Kushina offered, causing Hinata to blush even more. No-one in the Hyuuga Compound questioned Hinata's constant excuses that she stayed in the same compound as her friend, with any accusations of her being into girls being silenced before they got to her ears. Her and Kushina were doing exactly what he needed.

* * *

"And they wonder why people assume you two are closer than friends..." Neji muttered to Kushina.

"Kitsugami Kushina, Your turn... You are required to hit that target with at least three of these kunai to pass," Mizuki offered.

"Why does she get a different skills test?" Sakura screeched. There was then a poof, and Kushina was holding a pair of Hello Kitty panties, for Sakura to blush hotly.

"She'd pass any illusion, misdirection and disguise skills test without even needing to actually use a ninja technique..." Iruka drawled, "Now, return Sakura's underwear..."

The panties vanished, and Sakura scowled at her rival. How could some kitsune make several ninja arts so superfluous?

Kushina scooped up a kunai with each of her tails, and flung them in a near-ripple pattern, bisecting the middle of the target, for Iruka and Mizuki to sigh, and note something down before handing her a forehead protector.

"Remind us to find some other skill set she can't subvert with being a kitsune for if we have to retest her..." Iruka sighed.

The rest of the exam went very well, with the marks as usual being that Sakura and Kushina tied for first place kunoichi, a fact not lost on the students, who watched as Sakura took out some clawed gloves, leaving the blade guards on, that she'd taken to using to help her against Kushina. "You and me, now... Winner gets the official grading as this year's top kunoichi..."

"No morphing into a fox, no drawing blood, fight ends when either one of you concedes..." Mizuki announced, Iruka helping move the other students aside, "You may begin when ready..."

Sakura lunged for Kushina, for her to dodge the punch, knowing that it was one of Sakura's strong points, her melee skills. The students watched as Kushina kept Sakura one step behind her movements, tapping her with a finger or slapping her with a tail as she went past her. The obvious result happened after an hour of attempting to hit her, as Sakura's strikes became sloppy and lacked power.

She woke up in her bedroom the following morning, feeling the side-effects of chakra exhaustion. "She could have demolished you..." Hinata stated from her doorway, "Instead, she showed you why you need to stop feeling that she's holding you back..."

"She makes it all look so easy!" Sakura moaned, "Why can't I do better than her?"

"She has enough chakra to be able to fight someone like the Hokage to a standstill." Hinata sighed, "Some of the other kunoichi think you're a boy with how you act and dress, never mind that you're looking at missing puberty..."

"What are you getting at?" Sakura snapped.

"From tomorrow, you'll be joining me and Kushina on the same high calorie diet that has meant my chakra levels are good enough to spar with Kushina, and hopefully we'll be able to get your body chemistry kicked into gear so you actually develop a bust..."

Sakura growled, but accepted the peace offering for what it was.

* * *

**What I'd like to know off my reviewers, It may affect the story as a whole, is this -**

**1. Should Sasuke be written as canon, or as a girl, and potential love interest of Kushina or a lesbian Sakura?**

**2. Should I write Sakura as a lesbian? And if yes, is her antagonism towards Kushina because she rejects her?**


End file.
